For anyone who needs proof: "84% of Americans favor background checks..."

[HereSince1628]

16. It'd be remarkable for a professionally run poll to be off by 30%

Really.

But I've not paid any attention to the details of the polls being reported

I listened to Ed Schultz radio yesterday and he went on about polls showing 90% of America in favor of closing the gun-show/private sake loophole. And then he'd say but maybe Arkansas or Wyoming is 100% against that.

I thought, Ed, you know a 90% in a representative randomized sampling of all states would still produce a wide majority of states with populations in favor of always requiring background checks for transfer of ownership.

At the time it made me wonder if Ed was dense about the meaning of polls or if the polls were really that unscientific. I still don't know about the 90% number, but this poll looks like efforts were made for it to be representative of the whole country.